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My review of the Wyndham/Sheraton hotel in Old San Juan.Sheraton/Wyndham Old San Juan Hotel If anyone has ever read my posts, I have always given this hotel a good write up and I always recommended it to people asking about hotels in San Juan. We have stayed there before and loved it. Not anymore.
I booked a suite on Wyndham By Request way back in November of 2003 for our Dec. 6, 2004 cruise on the Empress. I got a special price for a Bay view suite for one night, and paid regular price for our second night.
Being a detail freak, I requested and received three confirmations from the hotel throughout the year confirming our stay, suite, and prices. The last one in November of 2004 after I heard they had become Sheraton.
We arrived on the 4th of December, handed over my confirmation papers and proceeded to check in.First they tried to charge me the highest price for the 2 nights.Second they told me that I was not getting a Bay view because I had requested a low floor and that the low floors were smoking. I was to get a partial Bay view room on the 5th floor. There were no other suites available we were told.
We were very tired from 36 hours of non sleep and said OK.Big mistake.
We got to the “suite” on the 5th floor and it overlooked the parking garage and a seedy side street used for Valet parking.
Outside our window was the building where it looked like they did the laundry all night. It was very loud.
Our “suite” was far from new. The word shabby is all I could think of. It was also filthy.
The bathroom toilet had been used and not cleaned.
The bathroom sink area was covered in what looked like blood.
The floor in the bathroom was covered with all kinds of hair.
The cups for making your own coffee and tea had been used and never washed.
I was totally shocked to see this called “my partial Bay view suite.”
I cleaned most of the mess I saw and put the cups in the bathroom so the maid would see them and replace them.Wrong.
The maid came and went the next morning and the same filthy cups were put back on the desk. I went into the hall and saw the head of housekeeping. Told her the problem and asked for clean cups, etc. She called the maid and I told her please give me new cups to use.We stayed in the room until check out on the 6th. The bill was slid under our door that morning. It was not correct.
My husband and I went to the main desk and I spoke to another person who was there. I explained everything going on and told her that the bill was not correct because thy were still trying to charge us much higher fees then what was confirmed to me 3 times. Also that we felt that we were not being given proper service or the original suite we booked. She read all my confirmations, checked my reservation confirmation, and agreed that we were mistreated by the Sheraton.
She told us that the room we were given was not what we booked and THAT THE ORIGINAL MAN AT THE DESK HAS LIED TO US ABOUT THE LOWER LEVEL BEING SMOKING. She also told us that our room had not been cleaned for new guests. (well, I already knew that because I cleaned it.)
The hotel has no such thing as non smoking, or smoking floors, as we had been told. She was very shocked and said that she was going to talk to her boss about our treatment.
She also took 50% off of our bill and apologized many times over to us.
We were offered free breakfast buffet coupons which at $17.00 apiece, we turned down. We had eaten in the restaurant the previous day for breakfast and found it was not worth the money.
We had done the dinner meal in the restaurant the night we arrived and it cost us $80.00 for a meal of two small chickens and side dishes. Plus I had one drink.
We found the mall building directly across from the Sheraton front door had a fabulous little restaurant with great food and great prices. We preferred to eat there.
When we checked out I told her that I could no longer recommend their hotel on the Cruise Critic boards if anyone asked for an opinion. That others had complained about their treatment from the hotel on Cruise Critic and that their rating was dropping.Would we stay there again. NO

This is my reply to why we stayed there after checking in.
The reason we stayed in that room was because we paid the price of $235.00 per night for a superior suite. Add on $25.85 for the room tax, and $21.15 for the room tariff and that is a grand totoal of $282.00 per night. The discount night was $152.00 plus all those added taxes added on to that. This was not just a suite we booked, it was one of the "best" suites we had booked. We got a great price with the Wyndham By Request on the internet.
We were told there were no other suites and the one we were getting was a "suite also". BS. In other words, take it or leave it.
We had been up since 6 am on Friday, caught the 1:15 am redeye out of Vegas on Saturday morning, and now it was 4 pm in the afternoon on Saturday in San Juan. So add 4 hours onto the total time we were awake for the time difference and by then you are too tired to go and look for a different hotel. When you are standing in their lobby with all your luggage and no other place to go, that is not my idea of fun.
For me to "clean up" the hotels or motels I stay in is nothing unusual for me to do. Once I know it is my kind of clean, I am right at home. ( no I don't do windows or dust. I just kind of sanitize the bathroom. )
I also have to add that I am a Starwood Preferred Guest and I have stayed in many a Sheraton hotel before. I have always found them to be quite nice and clean.
EDIT:
I have to add this.
Do I feel better for posting this about the Sheraton? NO
Do I feel like a yoyo for always bragging about this hotel on here? YES
Can I ever recommend it again on CruiseCritics? NO
Will I ever stay there again? NO